WHAT is less than half the equation

The other day I was taking a walk around my neighbourhood listening to a podcast. Then the presenter said something that stopped me in my tracks for a moment.

What he said fundamentally changed the way I think about Story Activism. Here are the 10 practices: 

• Practice 1: Be more curious
• Practice 2: Be a good story listener
• Practice 3: Start telling stories that will help us live well together
• Practice 4; Build your capacity to create spaces for stories to be shared 
• Practice 5: Ask yourself: "What is mine to do?"
• Practice 6: Find your team. Lean in. Stay connected.
• Practice: 7: Take courage. Focus on what matters & begin anywhere.
• Practice 8: If it's about them, don't do it without them
• Practice 9: Focus on the possible. Dream the impossible.
• Practice 10: Commit to being a learner. Keep practicing.

For me. the first 5 practices relate to Story and the second set of 5 practices relate to Hosting. So I had divided them in my mind into WHAT and HOW.

Like this: First you find your compelling story. Then you bring it to life. Definitely WHAT, then HOW.

But the podcaster talked about the over emphasis in our world on WHAT. That means we are desperately, longingly, urgently missing...

We are missing the HOW...

That means we are desperate to know how to create human connection. How to be in authentic relationship. For people who know how to demonstrate their caring in their actions. For the invitation to know how we can contribute what we uniquely can.

So it's not HOW in the form of more tools or techniques, but HOW in the form of human practices.

HOW in the form of how we show up, the presence we embody. The consciousness we bring to bear so that curiosity is the way we lead, presence and consciousness is what we offer and authentic invitation is what others experience.

And with that, I realised that I know a lot about the WHAT. I have tools, techniques, methods and experience. I teach people about participatory practice all over the world. And in fact, tools and methods are what most successful consultants and organisational story practitioners are offering. They want to sell you their WHAT.

But my greatest gift is HOW and it's what I care most deeply about as well. I care HOW you show up. I care HOW our stories show up so they can make transformation -- for you, for me, and the rest of us. And I'm committed to bringing more HOW to bear in my work in 2024.

So what about you? What's your HOW?